“Think Before You Act”
A micro memoir by Brendan Chi (9).
We had done nothing wrong, except for maybe staying out past our curfew and having a mini snowball fight while everybody was sleeping. We were all having fun until we heard a booming voice coming from the woods, “What do you think you little punks are doing up this late?!” I immediately dropped my snowball, froze in place, and tried to hide my panic.
The school had a strict rule on staying up past the curfew and we all knew that we had definitely violated it. Everyone knew the punishment of getting in trouble on a school trip: Being sent home early. Someone had to save our skin and my friends clearly would not be able to in their petrified state so I spoke up.
”Mr. Cramer, we are very sorry that we were goofing around and disturbed you, we promise it won’t happen again.” I had said in my most sincere voice.
He stared at me for a couple seconds, hesitated, then said in the most sarcastic voice, “Okay, if you say so.”
We thought that we had escaped the wrath of Mr. Cramer, but the very next day when everyone was preparing for the hike, he walked up to us and said, “You guys won’t be joining us today, go back inside.”
When he told us that we wouldn’t be going on today’s hike, I felt like it was the end of the world. We were all devastated, at first we thought that maybe he was just messing with us and playing a joke. But as time went on and the trail leader finished announcing the groups, none of our names were called, and reality started to set in. I thought to myself, “Was this a group punishment?” “Maybe the trail leader forgot our names?”
Unfortunately, that was not the case, Mr. Cramer was serious about the punishment. We went back to our cabin, unpacked our hiking bags, and sat there in silence. “What were we thinking?!” Clark said, “Now we miss all of today’s activities.”
“Hey it was all your idea,” Josh said, “don’t try to blame any of us.”
“I'm not blaming anyone.” Clark said.
“Instead of debating whose fault it is, why don’t we try to figure out how we can fix this,” said Josh.
Personally, I had felt that this whole situation was Clark’s fault because he is the one who told us to come into the woods and have a snowball fight. Nonetheless, I agreed with them that we should talk to Mr. Cramer. We decided that we needed a plan, luckily for us, we had all day to think about it. When they returned from their hike it was time for dinner. On the walk to the dining hall we went over our plan and hoped that it would work. After everyone had finished eating it was time for us to make our move. We worked our way through tables of our classmates laughing and talking about how they enjoyed today’s activities, then finally reached the table where the teachers ate.
Now within a few feet of their table, we waited for him to notice us. “Mr. Cramer, we made a mistake yesterday and promised that it wouldn’t happen again, but you didn’t allow us to go on the hike today. I'm not sure how we can convince you, but we really are sorry.”
He paused, looked at us, a couple little 6th graders who just wanted to have fun with their friends on a school trip. He must have realized that he was being too harsh on us and how powerful his words could be. “Okay. I believe you,” he said. “You guys can join us tomorrow.”
On the walk back to our table, we couldn’t believe it, exchanging high-fives and fist-bumps. We had returned triumphant.